#LoveFirst — Chocolate Second

#LoveFirst — Chocolate Second

Whoever coined the phrase, “work-life balance” obviously never started a business with their significant other. Spoiler: The fantasy — sorry, I mean concept — doesn’t exist. At least not when you’re side-hustling with your partner until 4 am and all through the weekends. It’s nice to imagine, but it rarely balances out.

Laundry doesn’t get done, dinner is more often than not three-dollar tacos from the truck on the corner, and words are exchanged. We have moments.

Up until a few months ago, it felt like a complete failure on our part. I know her and she knows me better than anyone else, why is this so difficult? It turns out we were fighting too hard to make space in our lives for normality. While putting our business and chocolate production first (on top of our full-time careers), love and each other was coming second. What we needed to do was accept our new normal and what that was going to look like. To begin with, love needed to be put first.

One night over a dinner of unlimited mussels for $10 (amazingly neither of us fell ill), we made a pact to put #LoveFirst. What that meant was that in whatever capacity, for whatever few moments we had — a free evening, a shared walked to the train — we would prioritize each other. Surprisingly, at least for now, it’s been working.

No, this doesn’t mean that the bathroom cleans itself or that we’re getting extra sleep, but it does mean that we’ve had a few spontaneous date nights, a handful of romantic strolls, fewer tears and more smiles. As you can see from the picture below, these times aren’t fancy, that would be me on the right with chocolate on my face. But the extra space we’ve allotted in our lives to spend together as a couple, and not just as business partners, has been important. It reminds us why we embarked on this crazy, busy and exhaustive journey to begin with — to love each other and create something beautiful and delicious.

So here’s to love to first and chocolate second. How do you put #LoveFirst?